Wednesday, October 03, 2007

September in Review: Bonanza!

Record for the Month: 19-8, 178 RS, 128 RA

Player of the Month: It's hard not to give it to the guy who had 10 homers and 31 RBIs for the month, team-leading totals, each...yeah, what the heck, why not? Alex Rodriguez (.362/.470/.723) wins his third Player of the Month for 2007 (he previously won April and June). But he gets to share the award, thanks to an obscure rule I made up for Jorge Posada in June--"[y]ou hit close to .400 for a period of 31 days, then you get to be the Player of the Month." Turns out Jorge hit .395/.511/.632--albeit in 22 games--capping the best season by a Yankee catcher, per VORP, since 1959. In the honorable mentions, Doug Mientkiewicz (.429/.510/.619 in 42 AB) took advantage of Jason Giambi's failings to make the Giambino (.164/.370/.309) a $19 million pinch-hitter. Among the pitchers, honorable mentions go out to Phil Hughes (3-0, 2.73 ERA in 29 2/3 IP), Joba Chamberlain (10 apperanaces, 2-0, 0.77, 17 K), Chien Ming Wang (3-1, 3.27 ERA), Ian Kennedy (1.89 ERA), and Mike Mussina (3-0, 3.49 ERA).

Dregs of the Month: How bad can you be and still keep your job? Melky Cabrera will find out on Friday, when the Yanks face a righthanded pitcher. If Johnny Damon's in center field against Fausto Carmona, Melky will find himself demoted to platoon status based on a horrible September (.180/.236/.280). If Melky isn't down, it's only because Giambi (crappy performance listed above) didn't make a strong enough argument to get into the DH slot, but Hideki Matsui helped make the decision interesting by hitting (.183/.343/.346). Honorable mentions go to bullpen-mates Edwar Ramirez (11.17 ERA) and Luis Vizcaino (10.13 ERA). Three True Outcomes Ramirez got almost unprecedented chances to be a part of the bullpen picture from Joe Torre, and he coughed 'em up like a hairball. Meanwhile, Vizcaino has either morphed back into the sucktastic guy he was at the beginning of the season, or Torre has worn his arm down like the brakes on a gypsy cab. Either way, it's a concern since he's the #3 reliever in the Yankee pen--you have to have a worse September than this for Blockhead Kyle (6.75 ERA in September) to trump you--this does not bode well.